United Arab Emirates State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash said Tuesday that a recent New York Times report proves Qatar’s ties to terrorism.
Earlier this month, the New York Times obtained an audio recording of a telephone call between the Qatari ambassador to Somalia and a businessman who is close to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that reveals Doha’s complicity in terrorist bombings in the African country.
The businessman, Khalifa Kayed al-Muhanadi told Qatari Ambassador Hassan bin Hamza Hashem that militants had carried out a bombing in the port city of Bosaso in northern Somalia, to advance Qatar’s interests by driving out its rival, the UAE.
Gargash tweeted: “The dangerous recording cannot be denied with a hasty statement.”
“Resorting to terrorism against the UAE is regrettable escalation and justifies the four countries’ boycott of Qatar,” he added.
In May, a car bomb went off in front of a government building in Bosaso.
“The bombings and killings, we know who are behind them,” al-Muhanadi, said in the call on May 18, about a week after the bombing.
“Our friends were behind the last bombings,” he remarked.
The attack, which was claimed by an ISIS affiliate, left eight people wounded.
